Chicago ties 2011 total for homicides

CHICAGO – Chicago has reached a grim milestone city officials wanted to avoid but knew was coming.

On Sunday, the city recorded its 435th homicide – the same number of homicides in Chicago in all of last year.

A man who'd been shot in the chest was found dead in his South Side home. His death was one of six fatal shootings in the city from Friday through Sunday.

Chicago's homicide rate has made national headlines for much of the year, starting in the spring when police reported the number of homicides was about 60 percent higher than for same period last year. Since then, the rate has slowed down considerably as police focus much of their attention on street gangs that have been linked to the majority of shooting deaths.